


Moving On

by Not_You



Series: It's Weird When Shaw Is Nice [15]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: David is special, Diplomacy, F/M, M/M, Multi, Travelogue, fuck yeah Wakanda
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 21:31:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/602290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Not_You/pseuds/Not_You
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Our heroes head for T'Challa's place.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moving On

They stay with D'Warin's clan for two weeks, and Anya has a good time. At first the girls won't play with her, but Anya knows what to do about that. She lets them alone for the first day, and on the second finds a nice little spot in the big beaten earth yard and starts singing runesongs. It's old-fashioned northern magic and almost unknown in Wakanda. If you pronounce the words right, the glyphs appear in the air, shining different colors. It's a good way to entertain babies as well as an excellent game for older children, and she eventually draws a small crowd as she walks in lazy circles, singing the clear, sharp syllables.

By evening she has taught her new friends a few of the songs, and they've shown her how to use a grasshopper for divination. Father grins when she tells him this over dinner, and says she has the makings of an excellent diplomat. Near the borderlands, Wakandas seem to live on flatbread, with a dizzying array of relishes and stews. The table is round, so D'Warin isn't really at the head, but he's sitting at the easternmost point, which is apparently the equivalent. It's a low table, with furs instead of chairs, just like at home.

Angel chuckles. "Every woman is a diplomat."

"Yes," Father says, "but some are more skilled than others."

David has his little okapi carving beside his plate, offering it savory steam. The little god inside is a tiny light that casts no shadows because they're not seeing it with their physical eyes. Father can't see it, but even for him the wood is always warm to the touch. Charles smiles and strokes David's untamable hair, tracing his madsign with one fingertip. "Did you have a good day, precious thing?"

David has had a good day, tagging along with the priestess and learning all about local plants and the structure of the universe. About how the spirit of the Black Panther resides within the king and his heirs, and about the herb they eat for strength in battle and on the hunt.

"So your sons are gonna be strong and not just gorgeous?" Alex teases, and David laughs.

"That happens later, silly!"

Everyone laughs at that, used to David's precognitive ways. After dinner there is drumming and dancing until David falls asleep. Anya isn't much more awake, and doesn't argue when Mother tells them it's time for bed, and shakes her brother awake so no one will have to carry him. Father gives them each a wine-scented goodnight kiss, and Mother and Charles do the same before they go off hand in hand, one of the tall, quiet servant women leading the way through the long, low halls. She's a product of the border like Angel, but darker and with strange scars on her face. David asks her about him, and she laughs.

"They're my tribal marks. I married one of the men who doctors the chief's herds, but I'm from a place further west, where this is how we decorate and identify ourselves."

"I see," Anya says. "They're a bit shocking to me, but beautiful in their way."

"That's just what Dr. McCoy said at first. Now he's completely used to them."

David smiles, and yawns hugely. The woman scoops him up for the last few yards, and he's glad to be tucked into bed. Anya smiles and crawls into her own bed, listening to the distant song. "I like Wakanda," she murmurs, and David's only answer is soft and steady breathing.

There's fruit and milk in the morning, and she wonders if Hank likes Raven as much as he seems to, sitting beside her and naming the unfamiliar flesh before her. There are all kinds of things they've never seen. Fibrous, golden fruit with a flat stone, white-fleshed fruits in strange shapes, something that's ripe but has a green skin anyway, and oranges as red as blood. David loves it, and Father and Mother smile at each other, glad to see him enjoying his future home.

When they leave, some of the little girls give Anya a few trinkets, so she gives them each a little purse covered in porcupine quills from the stock of host gifts, a small coin in each one because it's bad luck to give an empty purse. Her new friends are delighted, and promise to write at least every now and then. Dr. McCoy comes with them, something about wanting to study Wakanda court protocols. Anya is pretty sure he just wants to stay close to Raven, and wonders what's going to happen, because they can't possibly get married. He rides one of the local horses, a leggy, spirited, striped thing. It tosses its head and nearly runs away a few times, but the doctor gets it under control at last, talking softly to it in Wakanda. Raven can't seem to stop watching him.

**Author's Note:**

> Toss in any questions about the world, and I'll try to get them answered in the story.


End file.
